The Trinity Doctrine/Dogma Exposed

I've always had difficulty with the "trinity" doctrine and concept.
Even after
twenty years of being a born again Christian, I couldn't
seem to grasp the concept. Other Christians claimed they had an
understanding of it but they admitted it was very difficult to
articulate.

Robert Ingersoll makes the following comments in Ingersoll's Works, Vol. 4, p. 266-67:

Christ, according to the faith, is the second person in the
Trinity, the Father being the first and the Holy Ghost third.

Each of these persons is God. Christ is his own father and his
own son. The Holy Ghost is neither father nor son, but both.

The
son was begotten by the father, but existed before he was
begotten--just the same before as after. Christ is just as old
as his father, and the father is just as young as his son.

The
Holy Ghost proceeded from the Father and Son, but was equal
to the Father and Son before he proceeded, that is to say,
before he existed, but he is of the same age as the other two.

So it is declared that the Father is God, and the Son and the
Holy Ghost God, and these three Gods make one God. According
to the celestial multiplication table, once one is three, and three
time one is one, and according to heavenly subtraction if we
take two from three, three are left. The addition is equally
peculiar: if we add two to one we have but one. Each one equal
to himself and to the other two. Nothing ever was, nothing ever
can be more perfectly idiotic and absurd than the dogma of the
Trinity.

Christians are faced with a dilemma. The Bible says in the Old Testament, "I, even I, am the Lord; and besides me there is
no savior" (Isa. 43:11). "Salvation belongeth unto the Lord . . ." (Psalms 3:8. "For I am the Lord thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Saviour . . ." (Isaiah 43:3).
According to the Old Testament, only God can be the Savior. In order for Jesus Christ to be the Savior, he must also be God.

Trinity advocates use:

"I and the Father are one" (John 10:30);

". . .he that hath seen me hath seen the Father" (John 17:22);

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and
the word was God" (John 1"1);

". . . that ye may know, and believe, that the Father is in me and I in Him"

". . .he that hath seen me hath seen the Father. . ." (John 14:9)

". . .Holy Father keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one, as we are."John 17:11

"Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ. For in him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily." Colossians 3:8,9.

The Bible has many more verses denying the Trinity than it has confirming it:

"Why callest me good? There is none good but one, that is God" (Matthew 19:17)

". . .for my Father is greater than I. . ." (John 14:28)

"My doctrine is not mine, but his that sent me." (John 7:16)

"O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless, not as I will, but as thou wilt." (Matthew 26:39)

"My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" (Matthew 27:46)

"But of that day and that hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels which are in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father." (Mark 13:32)

"Who has gone into heaven, and is on the right hand of God" (Peter 3:22)

There are, of course, more scriptures. The passages quoted are a representative of the opposing concepts.

Here is the dilemma. Christians know that in order for Jesus to be the savior of mankind, he must also be God. The bible says so. If he is not God, then he cannot be the savior. His death would be meaningless. So Christians have invented the Trinity to explain Christ's divinity. He is man. He is God. He is both. He must be in order to be the savior. Unfortunately, he is ambivalent at best. Sometimes he claims to be one with God. Sometimes he admits God knows things which he doesn't know and does things which he cannot do.
Christians go to nearly any length to prove the Trinity including the declaration that its a "mystery" and we "just don't have the mind to understand it".
Is the bible the perfect, inerrant word of God? The Christian created Trinity doctrine and the contradictions which must accompany the doctrine sound a resounding "No"!
So how did the Trinity doctrine/dogma come into existence?

The origins of the Trinity doctrine are appalling. Like
most historic issues pertaining to Christianity, there was much
deceit and bloodshed. Many lives were lost before 'Trinitarianism'
was finally adopted.

As many Christians know, the word "trinity" does not appear in the
Bible. It doesn't because it is a doctrine which evolved
in early Christianity. It was a manipulated, bloody and deadly
process before it finally arrived as an 'accepted' doctrine of the
church.

CONSTANTINE - THE TRINITY PROCESS BEGINS

Flavius Valerius Constantius (c. 285-337 AD), Constantine the Great,
was the son of Emperor Constantius I. When his father died in
306 AD, Constantine became emperor of Britain, Gaul (now France),
and Spain. Gradually he gained control of the entire Roman empire.

Theological differences regarding Jesus Christ began to manifest in
Constantine's empire when two major opponents surfaced and
debated whether Christ
was a created being (Arius doctrine) or not created but rather coequal and coeternal
to God his father (Athanasius doctrine).

The theological warfare between the Arius and Athanasius doctrinal
camps became intense. Constantine realized that the his empire was
being threatened by
the doctrinal rift. Constantine began to pressure the church to come
to terms with its differences before the results became disastrous to
his empire. Finally the emperor called a council at Nicea in 325 AD to
resolve the dispute.

Only a fraction of existing bishops, 318, attended. This equated to
about 18% of all the bishops in the empire. Of the 318, approximately
10 were from the Western part of Constantine's empire, making the
voting lopsided at best. The emperor manipulated, coerced and
threatened the council to be
sure it voted for what he believed rather than an actual
consensus of the bishops.

The present day Christian church touts Constantine as the first
Christian emperor, however, his 'Christianity' was politically
motivated. Whether he personally accepted Christian doctrine is
highly doubtful. He had one of his sons murdered in addition to a
nephew, his brother in law and possibly one of his wives. He continued
to retain his title of high priest in a pagan religion until his
death. He was not baptized until he was on his deathbed.

THE FIRST TWO THIRDS OF THE TRINITY - THE NICAEAN CREED

The majority of bishops voted under pressure from Constantine for
the Athanasius doctrine. A creed was adopted which favored
Athanasius's theology. Arius was condemned and exiled. Several of
the Bishops left before the voting to avoid the controversy. Jesus
Christ was
approved to be "one substance" with God the Father. It is interesting
that even now, the Eastern and Western Orthodox churches
disagree with each other regarding this doctrine, the Western churches
having had no influence in the 'voting'.

Two of the bishops who voted pro-Arius were also exiled and Arius's
writings were destroyed. Constantine decreed that anyone caught with
Arius documents would be subject to the death penalty.

The Nicaean Creed read as follows:

I believe in one God:
the Father Almighty,
maker of heaven and earth,
and of all things visible and invisible;

And in one Lord Jesus Christ,
the only begotten Son of God:
begotten of his Father before all worlds,
God of God, Light of Light,
very God of very God,
begotten, not made,
being of one substance with the Father,
through whom all things were made. . .

Even with the adoption of the Nicaean Creed, problems continued and
in a few years, the Arian faction began to regain control. They
became so powerful that Constantine restored them and denounced the
Athanasius group.

Arius's exile was ended along with the bishops who sided with him.
It was now Athanasius who would be banished.

When Constantine died (after being baptized by an Arian Bishop),
his
son reinstated the Arian philosophy and bishops and condemned the
Athanasius group.

In the following years the political foes continue to struggle and
finally the Arians misused their power and were overthrown. The
religious/political controversy caused widespread bloodshed and
killing. In
381 AD, Emperor Theodosius (a Trinitarian) convened a council in
Constantinople. Only Trinitarian bishops were invited to attend.
150 bishops attended and voted to alter the Nicene creed to include
the Holy Spirit as a part of the Godhead. The Trinity doctrine was
now official for both the church and the state.

Dissident bishops were expelled from the church, and
excommunicated.

THE ATHANASIUS CREED COMPLETES THE TRIUNE GODHEAD

The Athanasius (Trinitarian) Creed was finally established
in (probably) the 5th century. It was not written by Athanasius
but adopted his name. It stated in part:

"We worship one
God in Trinity . . . The Father is God, the Son is
God, and the Holy Ghost is God; and yet they are
not three gods, but one God."

By the 9th century the creed was established in Spain, France and
Germany. It had taken centuries from the time of Christ for the
trinity doctrine to catch on. Government and church politics were
the reasons the trinity came into existence and became church
orthodoxy.

As you have seen, the Trinitarian doctrine came from deceit,
politics, a pagan
emperor and warring factions who brought about death and bloodshed.

THE CHRISTIAN TRINITY - ONE MORE IN THE PARADE OF
TRINITIES

Why the original clamor to elevate Jesus and the holy spirit to
positions equal to the Christian/Judaeo God? Simply, the pagan
world was quite used to having "three gods" or "trinities" as their
deities. The trinity satisfied the majority of Christians who had
come from pagan backgrounds. Christianity didn't get rid of the
pagan trinities, it adopted them as it did so many other pagan
traditions.

OTHER TRINITIES

.

Hinduism embraced the triune godhead of Brahma, the god of creation
; Vishnu the god of maintenance and Siva the god of destruction.
One of Egypt's many trinities was Horus, Isis and Osiris.

The founders of the early Christian church had no idea that the
Trinity
concept would evolve, be voted upon by politicians, forced by
emperors and
eventually become an integral part of Christianity such as we have
it today. Is it any wonder that its "difficult" to explain?

Is there one Christian God or Three In One? The majority
of Christian churches hold to the Trinity doctrine but there are
still Christian church holdouts who reject the teaching. We now
enjoy the freedom to believe either doctrine but at risk of ridicule
if we choose non-Trinitarian beliefs.